The fact that the day had been pretty much of a dud rather paled into insignificance when, late in the afternoon, the first Melodious Warbler for a couple of years popped up in a mist-net at the Obs. With yesterday's turbulence being slow to completely clear through, the day's other migrant interest at the Bill consisted of no more than 40 Willow Warblers, 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 5 Wheatears, 2 Yellow-legged Gulls and a Turnstone; there were equally slim pickings elsewhere with, for example, 8 Sanderlings and another Yellow-legged Gull the best on offer at Ferrybridge. The sea was even quieter, with just singles of Balearic Shearwater and Arctic Skua through off the Bill.
Today's Melodious Warbler - Portland's classic 'hot, sunny afternoon in August' bird. Since the island's first in 1954 - which at that time was only about the tenth for Britain - there have been a minimum of 236 more here. Although that works out at an average of a little over three per year, the stats tell us that numbers gradually increased to reach a peak in the late 70s/early 80s when there were several annual totals of well into double figures; however, since that time numbers have steadily fallen away again © Martin Cade:
